Just for Fun: Ranking Schools by Engineering Student Body

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

ASEE has data available on engineering enrollees for each school. See, for example,

http://profiles.asee.org/profiles/6848/screen/1?school_name=The+University+of+Texas+at+Austin

Using the 25th-75th percentile ACT scores and taking their midpoint values, here are some of the top schools ranked by their student body (test scores only).

School `Mid-point ACT’
CalTech 34.5
MIT 34
Columbia 34
U Penn 34
Duke 34
Northwestern 34
Rice 34
Hopkins 34
Yale 33.5
Stanford 33 (but data seems to be for entire undergrad body, not for engineering)
UCLA 33
Cornell 33
CMU 33
Brown 33
Michigan 32.5
Georgia Tech 32.5
UIUC 32
Texas 32
Purdue 31

Could not find data: Berkeley, Princeton

Some observations:

  1. Schools that are very selective overall not known particularly for engineering (UPenn, Columbia, Duke, Northwestern) still have very selective engineering student bodies, better than the overall average for the undergrad student body. I would not have expected them to match MIT. Exceptions are Yale and possibly Brown, which are very limited in their engineering offerings.

The schools that are more known for engineering (CMU, Cornell) have a somewhat less selective engineering student body, reflecting a somewhat higher acceptance rate for the entire university. Thought it was interesting.

Also, UIUC, Texas, Purdue, and UCLA have much more selective engineering student body than their entire campus, which is probably not surprising at all.

Caveat: All analysis above assumes that the ACT mid-point (calculation explained above) is somehow a representative number for the quality of student body!

2

The assumption may not be all that strong, since test scores may not necessarily be that big a part of a school’s admissions evaluation. Two schools with the same test score ranges may be significantly different in selectivity based on other factors.

3

Some small schools that would be highly ranked by this measure:

  • The ASEE site reports midpoint ACT of 33.5 for Olin College.
  • The ASEE site has no data for Harvey Mudd College. However, the HMC Common Data Set reports ACT Composite of 33 to 35 (i.e. midpoint 34) for all enrolled students in Fall 2015.
4

Many of the top colleges view test scores like the ACT as a gate. Get a certain score or above and you pass that gate. They are looking for students that exhibit a good amount of curiosity and are willing to seize any opportunity that comes their way, all intangible items beyond test scores.

5

UC Berkeley’s engineering is also more selective than the UCB student body selectivity. From my understanding, UCB’s engineering is a bit more difficult to get into than UCLA’s.

6

Cal Poly is 33 across the whole college of engineering. They admit by major and several aren’t very competitive (IE for instance). I’d guess their most sought after majors ME, AE and CS are hovering at 34 now. They admit by algorithm. Testing is the second highest component behind GPA.